Faded Memories
by mystiri1
Summary: One-shot. When you really want something, you shouldn't feel bad about getting it, right?


**A/N:** Another No True Pair prompt. This time: Axel has amnesia - does Riku try to help, or take shameless advantage?

* * *

Riku stared at the photograph in his hand as he wandered down the alleyway. It showed a bunch of kids fooling around in the sand lot, and wasn't that much different from the others he had in his pocket - the same group of kids smiling for a group photo on the steps of the station, or eating ice cream in the square, or doing any one of a handful of other normal, summertime activities. Except this one had an extra person: a serious-faced blond with blue eyes. Someone who looked almost familiar, but not quite.

_Roxas._

And as he watched, exposed to the real world and Namine's influence, the photograph was changing. The image of Roxas, holding a Struggle bat and facing off with Hayner, grew fainter. Gradually it disappeared, and until the boy in the middle of the ring had no opponent at all.

Something about it made Riku shiver. He understood what they were supposed to be doing. He wanted Sora back, and he wasn't going to get it unless Roxas cooperated. Roxas was Sora's nobody, and Sora couldn't be whole without him. He _needed_ Roxas to disappear.

It didn't make it any less disturbing.

He wondered if this was what it was like when Namine made Sora disappear from everybody's memories.

He shouldn't feel bad about this. Roxas was only a part of Sora, and wouldn't even exist under normal circumstances. But maybe that was why he did; because however small, it was a part of Sora he was hurting. And Riku had hurt his friends enough.

While he was walking along, lost in thought, he tripped over the other reason he felt bad about making Roxas disappear.

What he tripped over was a leg, attached to a lanky redhead who was sitting on the ground, one hand pressed to his head while he groaned. The sight sent a bolt of panic through Riku. Whatever his doubts about this, Axel could derail the whole thing, and he'd never get Sora back.

"Axel? What are you doing here?"

The green eyes that looked up at him lacked their usual fierceness. Instead they looked confused. "Axel? That's me, huh?"

Riku blinked. "Yeah."

"So you know me?"

Riku was briefly reminded of what form he was wearing, but Axel had seen him both ways, so that wasn't it. And he couldn't remember his own name. So that meant...

_If he can't remember Roxas, he can't interfere._

"Yeah, we've met a couple of times. Are you okay?"

"I dunno. I woke up here with a killer headache, only I'm not sure where here is, or anything else, for that matter. Weird, huh?"

Yes, it was, and would probably be more so if he hadn't been dealing with a particular blonde witch on a regular basis. Had Namine done this? Taken away Axel's memories? Or did it have something to do with the sore head he'd mentioned? In which case, maybe the memories would come back.

_Namine could make sure they didn't_.

Once again, Riku felt a strong twinge of guilt. He understood why Axel would try to stop him. Understood what Axel wanted. His best friend. He might consider him a threat, but he couldn't hate him for wanting the same thing Riku wanted so badly.

Unwillingly, his head turned in the direction of the where the mansion stood, outside the walls of Twilight Town. The mansion, with its entrance to the artificial Twilight Town that DiZ had created, the Twilight Town where Roxas could be found. The mansion where Sora slept. Where Namine was living as she manipulated memories into something that they could use to reach their goals.

Suddenly he realised he hadn't said anything in response to Axel's last comment, and the redhead was regarding him with a slight frown. "Yeah, that is weird," he said hurriedly. He held out a hand to help the other man up. "We should get you checked out or something." Axel was still giving him a doubtful look as he climbed to his feet. "I know someone who might be able to help."

And maybe by the time he reached the mansion, he'd have figured out whether he wanted Namine to help Axel remember, or to forget.

Permanently.


End file.
